The real final war
by Zelda12343
Summary: After the events of GFW left the world destroyed, a small group of humans rebuilt it. They made the world a far better place in the process. But what happens when the Xilians return? Can Ozaki keep his promise that no one else will die? Human-centric fic
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**Author's note: **_Okay, so I currently have a lot of fics going, but a friend of mine (who I'm hoping is reading this. I think you know who you are) has encouraged me to start this one particular one._

_It'll be human-centric for the most part, though the kaiju will most likely appear. Don't like, don't read. I honestly think we need more human-centric Godzilla fics out there._

**Disclaimer: **All publically recognizable characters and publically recognizable info about these characters do not belong to me. They belong to Toho Kingdom

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><p>The war was won.<p>

Or so most of them thought.

Why wouldn't they? The humans standing outside their damaged ship knew that they had won what was probably the largest kaiju battle in history. Never before had so many appeared in such a short time, never had they wreaked the level of almost total destruction that they had, never before had the fighting taken as long as it had. From the first shots fired within the EDF complex by the M Organization's Alpha team (and Captain Gordon, who wasn't a member but was the commanding officer for two of them) to Godzilla's final spiral ray, those who had watches and still cared to check them had learned that the war had gone on for a few hours more than three days.

Not much. But still. Never before had a near-continuous fight involving Godzilla, the humans allied with him, and whatever was opposing them lasted more than six hours. Occasionally, there would be several little scrimmages that came in fairly quick succession over the course of a few days or so, but never a continuous fight.

Of course, winning the massive fight brought a sense of accomplishment to everyone from Ozaki, who had defeated the Xilian commander in single combat unaided and then had gone on to give Godzilla the power he needed for striking the final blow, to the three former prisoners of the Xilians, who hadn't done a great deal but had survived all the same. And now, watching Godzilla and his son retreat into the ocean, everyone except Ozaki also felt a feeling of closure.

Ozaki had always been a particularly perceptive individual. While he was no psychic, he had always had a sense of others' emotions (including Godzilla's) and had gotten feeling that would slightly foreshadow events from a young age onward. He'd know from the start, even before the Otonashi sisters, that the aliens were bad news. He'd told no one until Miyuki, who had a calm head and an unshakable sense of logic, had realized something was off. Then he'd opened up freely. Boy was he glad he had. And now, he was feeling that something was not quite right once more. Nothing about the beautiful dawn suggested anything of the sort, but Ozaki was sure.

The more he thought about it, the more apprehensive he grew. Even though his friends were all out of danger, either standing near him or having lost their lives in the war, even though the woman he loved was now sharing a smile with him (he showed none of his apprehension on the surface), even though Godzilla had eliminated the vast majority of the kaiju and was now leaving them alone, Ozaki felt that all was not right with the world. He felt as though they had won the battle, not the war.

_Kazama would accuse me of being paranoid…_

Ozaki shook himself. Thinking of his fiery teammate wouldn't bring him back to life. Being a Keizer (who had evolved within the past few hours), Ozaki had nearly godlike powers. However, try as he might, he had no power over life and death. Meaning Koji, Yoko, Sensei Ogira, Kazama, and all the others who had died were staying dead. All had lost their lives in the past 72-or-so hours, direct or indirect casualties of the Xilians and the kaiju they had under their control.

Koji hadn't even been a hostile! All he'd been was the technician working in the EDF headquarters who specialized in translating messages from other countries' EDF bases. From the first day Ozaki had set foot in the EDF complex, Koji had always treated him with nothing but respect and kindness despite the fact he'd still been a kid at the time his training had begun. He'd always had a joke to tell, always had a great deal of optimism and energy. Ozaki knew he hadn't survived. He hadn't left the EDF headquarters. As a matter of fact, few had. What was left of the building was now a smoking crater.

Yoko's death had been unfair too. She'd been Ozaki's teammate and a close friend, a mutant who also thought about more than death and destruction (well, really, a lot of them were deeper than people generally thought. They'd been trained to be aggressive, and didn't exactly hide it). Being the secondary pilot of the _Gotengo, _she and Ozaki had trained together often. Thanks to her gentle personality, she and Ozaki had shared a close platonic bond that Ozaki had had with very few others. She'd been like his sister. And now she was dead, having been one of the mutants X had taken control of who had still been in the EDF building until it had fallen on them in Gigan's attack. Ozaki knew there was no way his beloved sister had survived. Even if she had survived the initial collapse of the building, she hadn't survived the asteroid containing Godzilla's final foe's impact.

Sensei Ogira, the commander of the mutants, had also been a very personal loss to Ozaki. Having never had a family of his own, Ozaki had viewed his commander as something of a father figure. As he'd entered the training program at the age of thirteen, he'd known Sensei Ogira for twelve years. For all twelve of them, Ogira had trained Ozaki to be a brave soldier, while offering him emotional support. His last small to Ozaki while he'd held off the other possessed mutants had reminded the last free member of the M Organization that he had to keep going. Ozaki was sure his commander was dead. No one could survive the wrath of the entire M Organization. Particularly when their DNA was most probably altered by the Xilians. Ozaki was hurt that someone would dare do that to his teammates. As though they were lab rats or something. And he had been unable to save even one of them. Not even Kazama, the only mutant to have had his control broken, was alive now.

Surprisingly, it was the death of Kazama, who had been his bitterest rival for almost half his life, that hurt Ozaki most of all. The two had never been close. As a matter of fact, the nicest thing Kazama had ever done for his teammate had been to literally drag him to the med wing of the M Organization after breaking Ozaki's arm in a training match. And that had been within the first year of Ozaki's joining the M Organization. It had gone from bad to worse. Kazama, who was two years and a world of hatred older than his teammate, and had resented him for… Ozaki honestly didn't know. He claimed Ozaki was 'too soft' and such, but somehow, Ozaki knew that that wasn't what was wrong. Still, despite their reasonable dislike of one another, Ozaki had always had a grudging respect for his teammate. He'd almost managed to save him, too. He'd broken the Xilians' control on him (and had broken half his ribs and damaged several of his organs in the process) and had taken him to the _Gotengo_ sick bay to recover. However, Ozaki had underestimated his fierce teammate. He had counted on Kazama's injuries to keep him from fighting. He learned the hard way that Kazama was tougher than that. If anyone who probably was in critical condition medically was able to go into battle, it was Kazama. Injured though he was, Kazama had picked the lock of the med-bay, hacked into the _Gotengo's _system, located the Dogfighter, and had run all the way to it's hanger, piloted the small jet into the center of the mothership, and had managed to crash it into the shield generator. He'd lost his life in the process, but had guaranteed the _Gotengo's _penetration of the Xilian mothership. Ozaki had been stunned by the suicidal mission. So stunned, he'd teared up. Despite being more sensitive than most of his teammates, Ozaki rarely cried. But he had at the death of Kazama, who despite his endless bullying of Ozaki and the others had turned out to be the greatest of them all. It had taken a great deal of courage and selflessness to do what Kazama had.

And now, all of the people Ozaki had known so well were gone. Ozaki wondered how many people all over the world had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time, how many had been crushed by kaiju when they were unaware of it, how many had offered to stay behind to try and offer their loved ones a chance at safety, how many sacrifices had been made so that more people would survive. How many were even left?

"Thank goodness," Miyuki said softly next to him, shaking him from his thoughts. Even with her extremely tall high heels, she still only barely stood to his shoulders. She was a very small woman, short and finely-built, but it was her natural beauty that was the real winner for her. She reminded Ozaki of what Helen of Troy must have looked like. But that wasn't why Ozaki had fallen in love with her over the course of their adventure together. He had fallen in love with her for her incredible intellect and her levelheadedness, not to mention the ability to think quickly.

"It's all over at last," she continued, smiling dreamily. Ozaki turned to her and simply watched her for a moment, not willing to ruin her pleasant feeling, then spoke himself.

"No, it's not," he replied, watching the smile fade off her face. "It's just the beginning of a new war."

She looked at him, startled, and he at her, savoring the moment, as Godzilla turned to roar at the small group of survivors. Then, as he and his son continued wading away, Miyuki spoke again.

"So more people are going to die?" she asked worriedly. The minute the question was out of her mouth, she realized how stupid it sounded. Ozaki did too. He didn't care.

"People die every day. But yes, more lives will be cut short before this is over. More will die before their time," he replied. "Including us. We may not be so lucky next time."

She fixed him with a level gaze, and he knew at that moment that she wasn't scared of death. No, the worry in her eyes was about something else.

"I know," she replied. Then, after a moment, she stepped a bit closer.

"Do you know when they'll strike again?" Miyuki asked.

"Who knows? Maybe in an hour, maybe not in our lifetimes. The thing is that they will strike again," Ozaki replied.

"Our hours may be numbered," she murmured, stepping even closer. "If they are, I'm not going to hold back anymore."

"Neither am I," he replied. He knew what she was going to do the instant before their lips met for the first time.

Until that point, neither Shinichi Ozaki nor Miyuki Otonashi knew how it felt for their hearts to have wings. Joy that their love wasn't unrequited blinded everything except the need to keep kissing. As a result, they didn't see Miyuki's older sister, Ana, elbow Captain Gordon and smirk.

"I knew it. Give me those 100 yen you promised me if I was right," she announced, the smirk never leaving her face.

"How 'bout I give you this instead?" he replied with a question, holding out a beautiful diamond ring which Ana knew instantly was an engagement ring.

"I'll take it," she replied. She'd been pleased all in all with her proposal. Unemotional but very sweet. Then, however, she remembered something. "But you still owe me 100 yen."

Ozaki and Miyuki finally broke apart several minutes later, feeling as though they'd been swimming and were reaching the surface to breathe. She smiled softly and leaned closer to him. He put an arm around her softly, allowing his hand to caress her hair briefly before resting on her shoulder.

"I'm so happy right now," he told her softly.

"Me too," she replied. "I hope we aren't the unlucky ones this time around. Regarding the war, I mean."

"Well, I'll promise you right now," Ozaki spoke loudly enough for all of them to hear, "that we won't be. We'll do our best to live on. No one else is going to die in what's left of this war. Come what may, but we will not back down. And we will all make it." A resounding cheer was heard.

Ozaki thought back to Koji, to Yoko, to Sensei Ogira, to Kazama. They had never gotten a second chance. Ozaki promised their souls that no one was joining them.

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><p><strong>Author's note: <strong>_Well, this was sort of angst and sort of fluff. Hope you enjoyed! _

_Please be nice in your reviews-even with my friend's encouragement, it took a lot of courage for me to publish this. Okay?_


	2. Chapter 0

**Chapter 0: The world changes**

**Author's note: **_Umm, hi guys. How long has it been? Sorry about this :(_

_But enough of that, let's go! Thanks to XilianXFan for your continued support and patience. And enjoy this chapter!_

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><p>For the next days, Ozaki and his friends were occupied to the utmost with restoring their world to its former glory. And what better place to start than Tokyo itself, their home?<p>

They began by clearing away debris, looking for survivors. However, Tokyo, like pretty much every known area with a human population, had been attacked by the Xilians. Because it was such a major city, it had been attacked by the whole shebang: a massive fleet of Xilian drones, and several kaiju. Some of the smaller settlements were luckier and only were affected by drones, as they found out later.

In Tokyo, most of the days ended up being spent among the dead. They'd try to identify the bodies, but often failed. When they did, they'd broadcast the fact on the nightly news they were running from the TV channel they set up. If anyone out there was still alive, they'd see. And they'd know they weren't alone. Ozaki and the others never gave up hope that there were still some out there.

And eventually, they started finding people who were still alive. Most of them were injured, but most of those injured would heal with time and medical care. Thank god Miyuki's minor in college had been medicine. And thank god even more that the Gotengo's med-bay was still functional. Ozaki had trouble going in there without being overwhelmed by memories, but the others spent a lot of time there visiting with the injured. For those who would not survive their injuries, they provided comfort.

After awhile, they began to move beyond Tokyo. Their support base increased, as did the ranges of skills these new people had. Eventually, through increased rescue missions and contact with people thanks to one survivor's skills with technology. Her abilities even allowed them to restore the world wide web, which the Xilians had somehow disrupted so badly that the whole world experienced an internet shortage. However, when it was back online, their abilities to contact survivors increased dramatically.

And one day, when Ozaki finally took stock of who was left, he found that a million people had survived.

Those million people banded together to rebuild their world, starting with Tokyo. Being very environmentally conscious (and not wanting to repeat the mistakes their civilization had first made), Ozaki and MIyuki set strict rules to ensure their new civilization was less harmful to the environment than the old one had been. This killed two birds with one stone, for Godzilla's old dislike for the humans seemed quenched.

Then came the discussion of politics. It was agreed among the survivors willing to think of matters of state that there would no longer be independent countries. Perhaps cities would retain some degree of autonomy, but the United Nations was now the main governing body. It was comprised of a representative from each city who worked together to solve world issues, particularly to keep the world safe from the Xilians, for Ozaki was sure they'd be back. However, the only Xilian attacks were small-scale ones: a flock of drones here and there, a couple of probes even, but nothing beyond that. Godzilla dispatched them easily, occasionally with help from the EDF, which was also rebuilt and altered. It seemed as though Godzilla's opinion on the humans was slightly more positive, for he never once chased after the humans. Ozaki, now head of the EDF, made sure this gesture was repaid. The two forces coexisted peacefully at last.

As did the rest of the world. There were no more wars, or major conflicts of any type. There were no environmental issues, thanks to the new, greener technology. As a matter of fact, many of the issues that had plagued the world prior to the kaiju apocalypse were gone.

Good thing, too. Ozaki had enough to worry about. The threat of a major Xilian invasion force returning was ever on his mind.

Good thing, too. As the days turned to weeks, which turned to months, which turned to years, it felt to the perceptive keizer that the world was holding it's breath.

As though the worst was yet to come.


	3. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Remember  
>Author's note:<strong> _Well, I've decided to just take every opportunity I can to upload, so hopefully uploads will come faster from now on. Thanks again to XilianXFan for her review AND support!_

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><p>"I still don't see why we have to do it," sighed Kenichi. "There hasn't been an attack in eighteen years!"<p>

It was hard to believe to the older members of the new Earth Defense Force, but eighteen years had indeed passed since the kaiju apocalypse. Since then, the world had largely been rebuilt. Most of the major cities were still something of a mess, but Tokyo, where most of the survivors (and by now their descendants) lived, no longer remotely resembled the mess it had been so recently. To the older citizens, it was hard to believe they'd come so far in so short a time. Some even felt as though it had only been yesterday when they watched their homes being destroyed by drones. These were the watchful citizens, the ones who were still fearful it could happen again. They were also the ones who worked hardest at their duties at the EDF.

To those who had been born after the apocalypse, or those who didn't remember a time before the war, it seemed perfectly natural. Most of them, such as free-spirited young Kenichi, were frustrated with their cautious elders and didn't understand what was so important about their jobs.

"Don't get your boxers in a knot! It's our duty, remember?" snapped Emiko next to him. "It might be a little boring to endlessly run scans, but the boredom of one is a necessary sacrifice for the safety of many."  
>"Book one, page one, paragraph three of 'explanations of your duty as an EDF personnel' written by Ana Gordon," Kenichi smirked, picking up the offending book from off his desk. At least the higher-ups realized the younger EDF workers' feelings. "You can quote it, I can identify it."<p>

"And we should both get back to work," Emiko pointed out and returned to her scanner.

Kenichi sighed again. Of course he had to be stationed next to Emiko, one of those rare exceptions. She might not like her duty, but she at least had the maturity to suck up and do it. Or rather, that was how it seemed. In reality, she simply had her own agenda that this fit right into. Everyone knew it. Her reputation for being a snob and the adult version of a teacher's pet was the most major gossip topic in the department.

_Honestly,_ Kenichi thought irately, _what else is there to discuss?_ It was his belief that he worked in the most boring department in the universe. All everyone did all day was run scans to make sure that nothing possibly dangerous was currently hurdling towards the earth. Kenichi almost wished something would happen to endanger them. Just having nothing going on was driving him so crazy that he even occasionally considering reporting that something _was_ hurtling towards them to cause some panic.

"I wish you'd stop being so childish," Emiko mumbled. "Our commander deserves better." A dreamy look came into her eyes as she contemplated the extremely handsome Commander Ozaki.

"Emiko!" Kenichi snapped in response, seeing her blank expression. "At least I don't pretend to be interested in my job solely to get the commander's attention!"

Like most young women in the EDF, Emiko had quite a crush on their commander. What did it matter that most of them were half as old as he was? What did it matter that he was already married? Several of them had attempted to flirt with him over the years, much to his amusement. He hadn't so much as looked at any one of them, however. He was married to his soulmate, and he desired nothing more in the realm of romance.

"He's due for inspections soon," Emiko continued dreamily. "Maybe he'll bring his son with him."

Kenichi shook his head. Recently, many of them had begun going after Ozaki's eldest son, Hideto. He was considered just as handsom as his father. And besides, _he _was available.

"Why don't you just shut it?" Kenichi snapped at last.

"Make me!"

"Fine, I will! Nothing better to do, anyway!" Kenichi lunged at her, knocking her out of her seat. Soon, her inner frustration came out as well, and the two were soon rolling around on the ground near their stations.

"Stop it, you two!" snapped the head of the division. They ignored him. Even the perfect Miss Emiko had her limits, evidently.

Eventually, the chaos spread. The entire department was engaged in a melée. In other words, the perfect order was broken and the twenty-odd young adults who were sick and tired of the normal, humdrum lives they led were engaged in a brawl. Most of them didn't even know what they were fighting about. All that mattered was to punch the living daylights out of whoever got in their way.

"Okay, what's going on here?" a voice suddenly demanded from the doorway. Standing there, ready to conduct his routine inspection of this department, was none other than  
>Commander Ozaki. At that point, everyone stopped injuring one another for no reason and stood at attention. The women even grinned flirtatiously. All the men rolled their eyes.<p>

"What is going on in here?" Ozaki demanded. Though it had been eighteen years since he had fought X and won, his skill and sheer luck had never truly worn off. And he was still just as imposing of a figure as he had been, if not even more by now. Being the commander of EDF certainly had benefits. One of them happened to be that people listened to him. And no one called him "soft" anymore, either.  
>"Are you out of your minds?" Ozaki asked. To an outsider, he would seem as calm and gentle as he always was. To them, however, he was quite frustrated. "Getting into a fight on duty?"<p>

"He started it!" Emiko pointed at Kenichi.

"She was making passes at you!" Kenichi snarled.

"He was getting on my nerves!" Emiko pointed dramatically. "_And _he was shirking his duty."

"We just joined in!" everyone else cried. "We're sick and tired of our duty!"

"Nothing ever happens in here!"

"I'd rather be janitor than this job!"

"Hell, I'd rather be fighting Godzilla or something that this!"

Ozaki raised a hand as level of noise increased, with everyone shouting out complaints at once. Instantly, everyone fell silent once they saw his hand. Or they realized their neighbors were not complaining any longer.

"Now listen!" Ozaki began, his tone soft despite his harsh words. "All of you! Your duty might be boring, I know. I feel for you. My own duties are boring. Almost everyone here at EDF has some job they'd rather not do. Yet you are the loudest complainers! Why? You have possibly the most crucial jobs in the entire EDF! Last time the Xilians attacked, we had little to no warning. Thanks to you and your jobs, we will have warning enough next time. So if you hate your jobs so much that you won't properly do them, please don't come crying to me when they attack and we aren't prepared. You got me?"

Everyone nodded. Perhaps their willingness to agree with him had something to do with the fact that he was the most powerful humanoid known and could blast them all to bits.

"Remind me to give you a raise if you can perform your duties without complaint until next month," Ozaki finished. Nodding to the now slightly brighter faces, Ozaki stepped out.

Gosh, what was with them? They were so troublesome. Ozaki understood their frustration, but even the janitors (the ones in charge of cleaning sewage) and desk-jobbers, who probably had the worst or most boring jobs in existence, didn't complain so loudly.

_They're young, _a voice said in his head._ You were that way too._ _Remember the day you met Miyuki? You could certainly complain loudly when you wanted to. And look where it got you!_  
><em>Kazama was worse,<em> he thought back. _He once threatened to go on strike when he was told to do paperwork. So he basically then forced it onto me. Gosh, my hand was sore for days afterwards._

At this point, thoughts of his fiery teammate and the years of bullying he'd inflicted on him were no longer hurtful. Rather, they were somewhat pleasant. How far he'd come since then!

Smiling at the thought, Ozaki returned to his office. He had a lot of work to do yet.


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The mysterious girl**

**Author's note: **_This is one of the few stories I managed to salvage after I lost all my data, since I'd previously sent it to myself. Enjoy this chapter!_

_Just to warn you, there's some harsh language in this chapter._

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><p>That evening, as Ozaki returned home from the EDF headquarters, he was deep in thought.<p>

He'd created quite the environment after the apocalypse. The new world they lived in was simply bursting with vibrancy. The ruins of the old cities remained, (some yet to be even begun to be cleared away), but new cities had sprung from the old. The EDF no longer chased after monsters, but there was no longer any need. Only a million people had survived the destruction, but now the population had more than doubled. Ozaki had watched the new generation grow up in this world of peace and prosperity, among them his own children. It made him proud that he'd been one of the premier creators of this new and beautiful world.

No more wars. No more poverty. No more fear of kaiju. The world was practically perfect.

But Ozaki, who was all but the engineer of this new golden age, was sure that he hadn't fixed everything. Namely, the emotional scars left over from the kaiju apocalypse. He still felt responsible for the deaths of many. All those who'd lost their lives, particularly those in the M Organization, still occasionally haunted his dreams.

All the people he'd respected... Sensei Ogira.

All the friends he'd lost... Yoko, Koji.

All the friends he could have made... Kazama.

He had been the one who had bothered Ozaki the most over the years. He was sure that if Kazama had lived, the two could've worked past their problems and become good friends. Deep down, Kazama was a good person. His final act alone had been enough to prove that. If only there was some way, any way, to repay him for that selfless act all those years ago-

"You bastards! Get your hands off me!"

Ozaki froze, his thoughts jarred. He'd just heard a girl yelling, seemingly at other people. After a minute of straining his unusually-sharp ears (which thankfully hadn't dulled with his age), he began to hear sounds of a scuffle down one of the dark alleys that branched off the brightly-lit street he was walking down.

Well, if someone needed help, he was going to help them. Because that was his way.

"I said get your hands off me!" the voice snarled again.

"Heh, what could you do about it, girlie?" scoffed another voice, this one male. "Your hands are tied." Ozaki peered down the alleyway the sounds were coming from. Using his also-sharp eyes (ah, the perks of being a mutant), he could faintly make out at least four hulking outlines surrounding a struggling, smaller figure. It was too dark to tell much else, but Ozaki was sure that the four were a street gang. He clenched a single fist. In rewriting the code of laws that all the world now followed, lawmakers (and himself and Miyuki, who'd been there at the time), they'd made sure to include harsh laws regarding crimes. Time to take the law into his own hands agains this gang.

"What a spitfire we have here!" another voice chimed in.

"Let me go!" the first voice shouted again. "I don't have any valuables!" Normally, this could be taken as a pleading for mercy. However, Ozaki didn't hear this victim pleading with them. He heard a harsh demand. If he'd been a mugger, as these four appeared to be, he would've let her go. She didn't sound scared. Rather, she sounded mad. Her little declaration of having nothing was just another way of telling them to back off.

"Well, let's check her anyways," one of the muggers told the others. "She's probably lying."

"We can have a bit of fun, anyways," one agreed, prompting stupid laughter. Ozaki closed his eyes and forced himself to focus, trying to draw on his Keizer energy. It seemed like a good plan now, but he was a little worried that his anger at these men would make him accidentally hurt them rather than incapacitate him.

"Disgusting pigs! I'm seventeen!" the girl snarled. Ozaki began gathering Keizer energy, increasingly upset.

"For the last tim, let me go!" the girl shouted, sounding even angrier than before. Not a hint of fear was in her voice, though.

"Nah. Not yet," one of them replied. "Oh, what have we here?"

However, Ozaki never got to hear from him what the girl had. Just then, he heard a dull thudding sound and an 'oof!' Soon afterwards, he heard the sounds of a scuffle: punches being thrown (and hitting their marks), feet pounding, and a knife being drawn. By now terrified that they'd hurt the girl and were now fighting amongst themselves, Ozaki forgot about the Keizer energy and started running.

A little ways down the alley, he reached four bulky men in rather dirty but obviously expensive clothes. Obviously the thugs, probably some wealthier young adults who thought it would be fun to break the law. Well, it looked as though they'd gotten more than they'd bargained for. All four were now sprawled on the ground, obviously unconscious. The lone figure that was still standing was a young woman, who was turned away from him and was inspecting the fallen individual closest to her. She was carefully inspecting his pockets, obviously turning the tides and stealing from them as they'd intended to do to her.

"Stupid!" she muttered. "Let your guard down. They were pathetic, anyways." Pretty soon, it seemed as though she found something and stopped riffling. She pulled herself into a standing position. After a few moments of muttering to herself, she seemed to realize she had an audience. Not bothering to turn, she started speaking in an ungracious tone.

"You didn't miss anything, don't worry," she began coolly. "All it took was three well-aimed kicks to unmentionable areas, careful maneuvering around the fourth so that his clumsy slash with his switchblade cut the rope they'd tied around my wrists, and four pressure points. Oh yeah, don't get any ideas about turning me in for stealing from their unconscious bodies. It's my right. I beat them."

"It's against the law, your right or not," he replied.

"I'm not afraid of the law," she snapped.

Ozaki was surprised at her audacity. Allowing himself to glow a little to light the alleyway slightly better, he began appraising the young woman, who was now counting out something in her hand. The little he could tell about her was purely cosmetic, except for the fact that her full height was only a few inches shy of his own 6'0. Otherwise, he couldn't see anything interesting. Well, her jeans were ripped, her black combat boots seemed worn down, and her black tank top was obviously rather dirty. The fact that her waist-long reddish brown hair seemed rather matted with dirt just added to her look. Unlike the men who attacked her, she was actually in a tough situation. Ozaki wondered if she was a runaway. If so, what in this near-perfect world could she be running from?

"Are you sure you're alright, Miss? Are you lost?" Ozaki inquired. Worth a try, anyway. Yes, she was in trouble with the law, but she intrigued him. He was going to regret making her pay a fine and returning the goods she'd stolen from her attackers, who in turn were going to have to pay something as well. However, that fighting skill she'd demonstrated was amazing if what she said was true. Perhaps there was another option for her...

"Hah!" the girl's exclamation was worthless. "I'm not lost. I'm entirely too close to my home for comfort." Ozaki heard the click of a switchblade.

"Don't try turning me in, you hear?" she continued. "I've got a weapon. I assume you're unarmed."

"Correct. But I don't need a weapon when I am one myself," Ozaki shot back. "Lower your weapon, kid."

She stood stock-still for a moment, before suddenly whirling to face him. Ozaki immediately saw that her fierce position wasn't to fake strength. There was a fierceness in her brown, almond-shaped eyes, an angry aura, even. It was obvious she was strong. Her eyes were full of anger and hatred as she looked at Ozaki, although he could tell it wasn't directed at him. Instantly, Ozaki realized she looked familiar. But what could a fierce, teenaged runaway be reminding him of? He'd rarely seen such harsh eyes. Her face, too, was not a kind one. Every contour of her face was harsh and unforgiving, her mouth was set  
>in a serious line, her eyebrows were furrowed in a scowl. No, this was not a happy girl. Ozaki wondered if she had ever smiled.<p>

Yet at the same time, the familiarity was shining through.

"Well?" she looked coolly at him. "You gonna attack or what?" Ozaki remained silent. "Fine, then. I will." with that, she leapt high in the air, too high for a normal human being should be able to. Midair, she maneuvered herself so that she'd hit Ozaki straight on and lunged downwards at the speed of a raptor diving for pray. Having fast reflexes, Ozaki jumped aside just in time, despite the fact that he had been extremely startled by something.

The girl had to be a mutant. No human could've done that.

If she was, she'd be the first he'd encountered since the war other than his children. Perhaps the species wasn't all but extinct after all.


End file.
